Gonzales Defends NSA Wiretaps

President Bush's terrorism surveillance program is well within the boundaries of presidential authority in the time of war and it "may make the difference between success and failure" in stopping the next terrorist attack, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told lawmakers on Monday.

"As the president has said, if you're talking to Al Qaeda, we want to know it," Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Gonzales argued that the program that has come under fire since the New York Times published details of it late last year is legal, despite critics' claims. He said federal appeals courts have ruled that warrantless wiretaps are legal under the Fourth Amendment when authorized by the president on similar matters.

Legislation passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, giving the president the authority to use military force in the War on Terror, "calls on the president to protect Americans both 'at home and abroad,'" and "to take action to prevent further terrorist attacks 'against the United States,'" Gonzales said.

The NSA program is "well within the mainstream" of what previous courts have allowed, he added.

"Our enemy is listening and I can't help but think they're shaking their heads in amazement" that details of the secret program were leaked in the first place, he continued, and that people would actually be calling for disarmament of a program that has helped thwart attacks on U.S. soil.

"I wish that there were more we could tell, it's not simply a coincidence the United States of America has not been hit again since 9/11 � it's because of tools like the Patriot Act, it's because of tools like the terrorist surveillance program," Gonzales added.

He reiterated the administration's stance that the president has the legal authority to authorize the National Security Agency to conduct some wiretaps on people inside the United States for two reasons: The Constitution allows it, as does Congress' post-Sept. 11 resolution authorizing the president to use all necessary and appropriate force in combating Al Qaeda.

Under the program, the secret NSA � which traditionally conducts domestic surveillance overseas � is allowed to wiretap some individuals inside the United States if they are suspected of communicating with someone linked to Al Qaeda or other terror groups abroad. The program does not allow for monitoring of domestic calls where both parties to the communication are within the United States.

"I think people who call this a 'domestic' surveillance program is doing a great disservice to this country," Gonzales said. "That's be like flying from Houston to Poland and saying that's domestic."